1.
Association football
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England

2.
IF Elfsborg
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Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, also known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg, is a professional football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Allsvenskan and have spent most of their history in the top tier of Swedish football and their homeground is Borås Arena, where they have played since 17 April 2005. The club was founded in 1904 by a group of 19 youngsters which all were 14–15 years old, Borås Fotbollslag was formed in Ordenshuset at Landala on 26 June 1904. The main protagonist in the formation, Carl Larson, who in addition to football also practiced athletics, claimed the reason was that the main sports club in the city, Borås Athletic and Sports Society, would not exert football in their program. Carl Larson, however, found there were too many clubs containing the city name Borås which contributed to the name change in 1906 by Riksidrottsförbundet to the current. The name is derived from Älvsborg County where instead of making use of the modern spelling Älvsborg, the same goes for the club colours, reflected in their crest and kit, yellow and black. Colors that are taken from Älvsborgs regemente, Elfsborg would not only represent a city, a recurring motto of the club is Vi Tillsammans. The clubs homeground Borås Arena is also called Elfsborg Fortress, since Elfsborg is Allsvenskan home strongest team in the 2000s, the club have won six national championships, the latest in 2012, and three national cups. Borås Fotbollslag was formed on 26 June 1904, by a group of youngsters, in 1906 the name was changed to IF Elfsborg, because the founders felt there were too many teams with Borås in their name. In 1926 Elfsborg won Västsvenska Serien, and defeated Halmstad BK in the play off, during the 1930s Elfsborg managed to build a very strong team led by striker Sven Jonasson, who appeared in both the 1934 and 1938 World Cup. In 1936 Elfsborg won Allsvenskan for the first time, and two more followed soon after. During this period Elfsborg had as many as seven players in the Swedish national team, in 1941 Elfsborg left Ramnavallen to play their home games at the newly constructed Ryavallen. In the mid-1940s Elfsborg came close to winning Allsvenskan again, by the late 1940s Elfsborgs glory days were over, and the club was eventually relegated in 1954. This was under the leadership of the legendary Sven Andreasson as chairman, in 1977 Elfsborg reached second place, but the following years proved difficult for the club. In 1987 Elfsborg finished last in Allsvenskan, and did not return to the top flight until 1997, the team that won promotion contained several future Swedish internationals including Anders Svensson and Tobias Linderoth. Even though Elfsborg won their first two cup titles, the club struggled to stay in Allsvenskan in the following years, in 2005 Elfsborg spent a lot of money on building Borås Arena, and bringing back former players. The investments paid off and the fifth Championship was won in 2006 – the clubs first Allsvenskan title for 41 years. The year after Elfsborg appeared in the Champions League qualifying stage for the first time, the club won the last round of qualifications for the Uefa Cup against FC Dinamo Bucureşti

3.
Landskrona BoIS
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Landskrona BoIS is a Swedish professional football club located in Landskrona, Scania, which currently plays in Division 1 Södra, the third tier of football in Sweden. The club was formed on 7 February 1915 through the merger of two older Landskrona clubs, IFK Landskrona and Diana, Landskrona BoIS was one of the twelve teams in the inaugural Allsvenskan season in 1924–25. Since then, they have played 34 seasons in Allsvenskan and 51 seasons in the second highest division, Landskrona BoIS has won four medals in Allsvenskan, little silver in 1937–38 and bronze in 1938–39,1975 and 1976, as well as one national cup title, in 1971–72. The club is affiliated with Skånes Fotbollförbund and plays its matches at Landskrona IP, the club is of open foundational type, not owned by any individuals. One of the earliest sports clubs in Landskrona was GF Idrott and the oldest one as of today, Landskrona Velocipedklubb built in 1893 a simple kind of cycle track which included a grass field in the middle, which eventually would become the first home ground of Landskrona BoIS. A year later football was introduced to an audience in Landskrona at an event hosted by GF Idrott at the pitch that the grass at Banan formed. The exhibition game between players of the section of Malmö Velocipedklubb was attended by 700 spectators. GF Idrott formed sections of several sports, Gymnatics, Athletics, Football, GF Idrott soon become a leading football club in Scania. Thus, GF Idrotts football section declined during the 1910s, in contrast, Landskrona-based competitor Diana appealed to the communitys socialist and sobriety movement subcultures. Diana also had an association with strict rules and the club had a formal leadership structure. Not much is known about the team, IFK Landskrona. Their main contribution to the merging seem to have been their players, the former chairman of Diana, Bror Nilsson, also became the first chairman of Landskrona BoIS, a position that he held until the end of the 1940s. Until the summer of 1924, the home pitch was Velocipedbanan. In July 1918, BoIS played their first match abroad, against Copenhagen-based KFUM, Albin played for the club between 1915 and 1921 before joining Helsingborgs IF together with his younger brother Harry Dahl in 1922. The transfer was fractious, as the clubs couldnt agree on the terms, however, unlike Albin, Harry returned to BoIS after only one season. For the following Olympics,1924 in Paris, both brothers were nominated to play for Sweden, however, Harrys supervisor at Thulinverket refused to let him go. 1924 brought the construction of Landskrona IP, occasionally referred to as Karlsunds IP in reference to the beech forest located just west of the arena, the new arena enabled Landskrona BoIS to become one of twelve clubs participating in the inaugural season of Allsvenskan. The inaugural Allsvenskan matchday concluded with Landskrona BoIS as the first ever Allsvenskan table leader, the clubs first Allsvenskan home game at Landskrona IP was a 4–0 defeat against IFK Göteborg

4.
Helsingborgs IF
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Helsingborgs IF, commonly referred to as Helsingborg, or HIF, is a Swedish football club located in Helsingborg. They are currently playing in the second highest Swedish league, Superettan, the club, formed 4 June 1907, has won five national championship titles and five national cup titles. Helsingborgs IF have also won Allsvenskan on two occasions when the title of Swedish champions was not decided by the outcome of that league. Helsingborg was a member of Allsvenskan, and between 1924 and 1968 they spent all but two seasons in the top division, and won the league five times. Having returned to Allsvenskan in 1993, Helsingborg remained in the top division until 2016, the club is affiliated to the Skånes Fotbollförbund. The club was formed in 1907 after the merger of Svithiod and Stattena, otto Malm was a star of the team, in the 1911–12 season he scored 69 goals in only 24 games. At the end of his time at Helsingborgs IF he had played 500 games, the year after the clubs formation, John Pettersson joined as club president, and during his tenure the club won the league five times. The year after, the changed their kit from white shirts and blue shorts to red shirts and blue shorts. In 1914 the club lost in the final of the Svenska Cupen and that year the club were invited to play in the Swedish Series, but declined because they thought that playing friendlies brought higher attendances. Additionally, the players were part-time, meaning that regular away matches would have been impractical. On 30 May 1915, the club lost 5–4 to Gӧta in the District Championships,1918 again saw the club finish second the Svenska Cupen, after losing to IFK Göteborg. With the arrival of Norwegian manager Åge Hareide things started to look good for the first time in many years. During Hareides first year HIF finished 2nd in the league and won Allsvenskan in 1999, following the World Cup break however, Henrik Larsson arrived at Helsingborg along with a new manager, Stuart Baxter, and Helsingborg started to win matches. After a pretty mediocre season Helsingborg finished 8th in the league, Helsingborg however managed to make it to the group stage after eliminating the Dutch team SC Heerenveen. Helsingborg ended up in the group as FC Girondins de Bordeaux, Galatasaray S. K, FK Austria Wien. With wins against Galatasaray and Austria Wien, a draw against Panionios, PSV won 2–0 at home and 2–1 away. It was from the only supposed to be temporary but after a few months of good results. The official anthem of Helsingborg is På Gator Röda och Blå by Björns Band, as of 18 February 2017 Note, Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules

5.
Gefle IF
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Gefle Idrottsförening, also known simply as Gefle IF, Gefle, or locally Gif, are a Swedish professional football club based in Gävle. The club is affiliated with Gestriklands Fotbollförbund and play their games at Gavlevallen since the 2015 season. The club colours are blue and white, formed on 5 December 1882 as Gefle SK, the club have played fifteen seasons in Swedens highest football league Allsvenskan, with the first season being 1933–34. The club are playing in Allsvenskan, where the season lasts from April to November. Gefle IF was originally formed as Gefle SK in December 1882, the name Gefle is one of the old variations of spelling for the town Gävle which was used from the 1500s to the early 1900s. The multisports club mainly focused on sports during its early years. In 1896 the club started having regular football training sessions under the guidance of an English accountant by the name of Robert Carrick, born in England, he had grown up in Gävle but returned to his homeland for a few years as a student. There he had picked up the new sport which he brought back with him to Sweden, the club found early success at the turn of the century by winning one of the biggest swedish cups at the time, Rosenska Pokalen, three times. Due to high travel costs Gefle declined to participate in the other major football tournament, Svenska Mästerskapet. Therefore, the golden generation never got the chance to play against the nations other dominant team at the time. An ever increasing number of clubs were starting up in the early 1900s. When the first swedish league Svenska Serien started in 1910 Gefle IF were not included, during the rest of the 20th century the club mostly moved up and down between the second and third level of the Swedish football league system. They only managed two short lived stints at the top level Allsvenskan, one in the early 1930s and one in the early 1980s. Between the 1979 and 1981 season Gefle IF and Brynäs IF merged and played under the name Gefle IF/Brynäs, in 2004 manager Kenneth Rosén was finally able to bring the club back to the top division after finishing second in the 2004 Superettan. Rosén had missed part of the season due to illness. Long-time club servant Per Pelle Olsson immediately stepped in and took over as manager during the off-season, Olsson would remain as the manager until 2014 when he was announced as Djurgårdens IF, s new manager. Due to their status as a second or third division club the Gefle supporters were late starters in creating an organized supporters club. After some fledgeling attempts in the mid 1990s when the interest in traveling to away games increased, in 2009 Gefle IF caused controversy among its fans by changing the sky blue home shirt to white, the color which the club played in during its first 80 years

6.
AIK Fotboll
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Competing in Swedens first tier, Allsvenskan, the club was formed in 1891 in Stockholm City Centre and the football department was formed in 1896. League champions eleven times, winning their latest championship title in 2009, the club holds the record for having played the most seasons in the Swedish top flight. In addition, AIK is the club that has finished top three in Allsvenskan the most times in the current century, AIK is the only side from the Stockholm urban area to have qualified for the group stage of a UEFA competition. The club reached the quarter-finals of the 1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners Cup, qualified for the 1999–2000 UEFA Champions League group stage, the club is affiliated with the Stockholm Football Association. The name was chosen to reflect that the club was open for everyone, putting football into practice in 1896, AIK were runners-up in the championship only two years later, in 1898. AIK won its first Swedish championship title in 1900, beating Örgryte IS in the final, in 1901, AIK won another title, after a walk-over win against Örgryte IS team II. At the turn of the century, Swedish league football was dominated by Örgryte, however, in the period of 1898–1901 AIK won the championship twice and were runners-up three times. In 1899 the team faced Djurgårdens IF for the first time, AIK did not participate in the Swedish championships of 1902 and 1903, which meant these were played only with teams from Gothenburg. In 1902, AIK instead competed in Svenska bollspelsförbundets tävlingsserie, a competition open only to clubs from Stockholm. AIK competed with two teams in the first year of the competition, finishing fourth and last, as a result, the weaker AIK side was relegated, making the first team the only one from AIK in the highest division. The competition was played until 1909, with AIK winning it in 1908 and 1909, two years after the start of the tävlingsserie,1904, twelve teams participated in the championship, one of them being AIK for the first time since winning it. AIK went through to the semi-finals, where they were beaten by archrivals Djurgårdens IF, in 1905, AIK went just as far, this time being beaten by IFK Stockholm. AIK competed in the three times in 1906–1910 without any success, but in 1911 they won the championship for the third time after beating IFK Uppsala in the final. After that, AIK were eliminated in the semi-finals of 1912 and 1913, in 1915, AIK were again defeated by archrivals Djurgården in the semi-finals. In 1916, however, AIK came back and defeated future rivals IFK Göteborg in the semi-finals, in 1917, Djurgården mirrored AIKs achievement, winning against Göteborg in the semi-finals and then beating AIK with 3–1 in the final. Another couple of years passed by without any success for AIK, until 1923, from the years 1910 to 1924, a championship called Svenska Serien was played. AIK didnt win it, but were runners-up a couple of times, the status of this championship status increased in the beginning of the 1920s and it became more important than the Swedish championship. In 1924, Svenska Serien was replaced by the current highest league, the first years, the championship were dominated by teams from Gothenburg and by Hälsingborgs IF

7.
IK Sleipner
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Idrottsklubben Sleipner is a sports club in Norrköping, Sweden, the main sports are football and ten-pin bowling. It was founded in 1903, and named after the deity Odins horse Sleipnir from Norse mythology, currently, the clubs senior mens team plays football in Division 2. They are mostly known for winning Allsvenskan in 1938, but have since been overshadowed by local rivals IFK Norrköping both locally and nationally, the club is affiliated to the Östergötlands Fotbollförbund. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality, in recent seasons IK Sleipner have had the following average attendances, A. ^ The title of Swedish Champions has been awarded to the winner of four different competitions over the years, between 1896 and 1925 the title was awarded to the winner of Svenska Mästerskapet, a stand-alone cup tournament. No club were given the title between 1926 and 1930 even though the first-tier league Allsvenskan was played, in 1931 the title was reinstated and awarded to the winner of Allsvenskan. Between 1982 and 1990 a play-off in cup format was held at the end of the season to decide the champions. After the play-off format in 1991 and 1992 the title was decided by the winner of Mästerskapsserien, since the 1993 season the title has once again been awarded to the winner of Allsvenskan. IK Sleipner SvenskFotboll. se – IK Sleipner